altarflame (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
altarflame) wrote2010-05-31 02:48 am
altarflame) wrote2010-05-31 02:48 am
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For her birthday, Ananda wanted to have a party at Jacob's Aquatic Center in Key Largo. But, her (dance and PATH) friends mostly live half an hour north of here. So they'd have to drive an hour south to get there. And, when I called I found out the party, even strictly limited to two hours and with no food provided, would be like $130. Plus I'd have to make a trip down ahead of time to sign a contract about rules (a quarter of a tank of gas away). Money is some kind of BIG DEAL right now while we try hard to catch up in general, and also to save for NYC. We made a deal; she's having an owl themed tea party at our house to invite people to, and we went as a family to Jacob's (for 25 bucks). This is actually working out to her great advantage as she basically gets three birthdays; today, when Grant was off and we did that, and then she got to pick dinner. The day, Tuesday, which will be largely normal but she gets to go see a movie for free since it's her birthday. And next Sunday she has a party and presents and all that jazz here at home. Aunt Laura is making her a pumpkin cheesecake; this has been arranged since last Thanksgiving.
I like having an extension for getting her homemade birthday gifts done. I'm psyched about how they're turning out.
Jacob's was great today. On the way there Jake was like, "We're going to my aquatic center, right?" and when we tried to explain, "MOM SAID IT'S MY AQUATIC CENTER!!" I am a little tired of every day we plan to go swimming ending up being the worst day of my period, and today I even had a little kid trying to peak under the stall wall as I changed out tampons, which was...awkward. Overall, though, A+
Aaron off the high dive.
Ananda :D
I went off the high board just once and think I somehow managed to bruise my butt/hip o_O Still fun.
Aaron holding Elise. Sometimes the age range of my children, and how big they're all getting, really astounds me.
Jumping to Annie. No, this tiny child cannot swim. She just trusts her older brother and sister as though she has four parents.
Six, four, and practically the same size.
Thirteen months apart, and this is the biggest size difference since his first year of life. It's strange to behold. I went to buy her character shoes she needs for a latin jazz dance in the recital (at Payless, because we are beyond broke and everytime I find out about another dance expense I'm aghast) and was FREAKED. OUT. to find that she needed a women's size 6.5w O_O
Also, wtf, my daughter now dances and does cartwheels in heels? I can barely walk in heels. She's showing me something new I had no idea she could do, dance-wise, on about a daily basis. Splits in both directions, going down into a backbend from standing and front walkovers are like nothing at this point, but she also does a lot of things like this with great ease...she has come SO FAR in dance this year, it is really amazing.
She wanted Olive Garden for her birthday dinner (of course). So we offered Bob and Robby a Wendy's dollar menu dinner and $5 apiece to come double team our younger four kids while we took her out alone. She and I sat in the front of the car with Grant in the back.
Afterwards, in the grocery store.
Both babysitters refused and handed back the money when we returned. I was impressed that they had managed feats such as turning on requested movies, opening a can of pineapple for them all to share and noting that Elise is talking a lot more.
Yesterday was a great day. I cleaned up the deck, Bob cleaned up the yard, Grant and Ananda customized details of wall-mounted shelves he's making her for her birthday (to be hung high up by her loft bed). Aaron found three different types of caterpillars at various stages and we decided he needs to be able to identify types better before he gets stung by something poisonous. He and I raced to the library 20 minutes before closing and it was so great! The childrens' librarian tried valiantly to help him find something in her section, and when there was nothing much helped him google for one type of caterpillar he described, printed some info out, and they found a great general site together that she wrote down for him. The adult reference desk guy actually got us a guide to FLORIDA's caterpillars that is perfect; he loves it. The childrens' librarian met us by the door as we were leaving:
Her: Isn't that going to be awfully hard reading for him?
Aaron: I can identify types by looking at the pictures, and then skim for what I need to know.
Her: HOW OLD IS HE?!
Me: Eight. Nine next month.
Her: What school does he go to??
Me: He's homeschooled.
Her: MMM-Hmm. That explains it. "Identify types, skim".
:p He is like the ideal kid to unschool. He's had his face buried in that book most of the time he's not actively building habitats or tediously combing our hedges and trees and vines for new specimes - there are two set up in his room now, and three different established cocoons in the yard that he's monitoring. They actually found one giant caterpillar, him and Ananda together, that is like, fatter than a tootsie roll and as long as my middle finger. It is solid green and looks like it should be smoking an elaborate pipe a la Alice in Wonderland.
Isaac was making me so proud, too, yesterday - he opened up Starfall.com and was going through the online version of "Peg the Hen". By clicking individual words, it will tell you the letters and then sound them out and say the word. So he was reading the whole book this way, but also copying down all of it "to read to Jake and Elise". So he had this whole sheet of printer paper covered in his really good all-caps writing, like...
PEG THE HEN GETS IN A RED JET.
THE JET GOES FAST.
THE JET GETS WET.
etc.
My friend Michele and her son Adam came and picked him up for a short playdate, that got extended to be a long playdate, and turned into an impromptu (FIRST) sleepover; but he got homesick in the middle of the night and I ended up picking him up. Talking to him the whole way home about what he had eaten and the games they had played and just all of it...I am SO AMAZED by how big and mature he is! How easy and sweet! How all around awesome! I am appreciating his development all the more because of how I've had to slag through so much hoohaw to get to this point with him.
I took Elise (on the seat on the back of mine) and Ananda and Aaron on a great bike ride yesterday, too. And made a delicious lunch that we then walked leftovers of over to Opa's house (four blocks away). Shrimp and pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms and onions and garlic and butter and lemon and chicken broth and mmmm.
Jake is so enthusiastic about schoolwork, he'll run to the table anytime I mention it and burn through subject after subject. His favorite things are his Kumon book of cutting and the Handwriting Without Tears workbook that was meant to have been Ananda's but has been passed down unused.
Last kid thing: of all the serendipidous wow, a PATH friend posted an email to the group that she is looking for a summer pet sitter. They go to Spain for two months every year to be with family and need a kid to volunteer to play with these two guinea pigs daily, and clean their cage out every two weeks, and feed them regularly while they're gone. This woman is willing to do the dropping off and picking up with all supplies, and food for fresh veggies for them, and pay the child doing it $100. We were the first to reply so Aaron has another $100 towards NY, and temporary pets.
I had a major hernia pain scare previously in the week. It woke me up and I spent a couple of hours pacing the house, praying, palpating and trying not to panic as I decided whether or not to wake Grant and go to the hospital. Finally, it passed. *sigh* I was extremely tense in the shoulders for two days following this and I've instituted some changes to try to keep it from happening again - like going for a walk everyday, not eating much at night, blah blah blah. *sigh again*
I'm really interested in terrariums and planning on making several from old Izze bottles and spaghetti jars and unused wine glasses we have. I'm going to take the children and comb our neighborhood for shade-dwelling miniature plants; they're just what Grant needs at his office ♥
I'm reading Craig Ferguson's "American On Purpose". I LOVE CRAIG FERGUSON, and this book is only intensifying that. I was glad to find that in addition to being comedic, it's also starkly honest and genuinely interesting. Plus this guy has lived a lot of wild life. I was rushing through the library grabbing things and wasn't sure what to expect.
I'm really like...REALLY? Because my Usborne stats page is claiming I've had over 400 unique visitors who have viewed almost 1300 pages...but nobody has bought a single thing. I think I am just going to give up selling these online and focus my Usborne energy on RL sales, which seem to go very well.
Continuing to feel very sad about the oil spill...driving back from Key Largo today as well as watching the trailer for that Oceans movie with Ananda both had me tearing up imagining various REAL POSSIBILITIES :/ So horrible, I almost can't think of it.
My childrens' book got rejected by the first agency I queried so on to more submissions. I'm ok with this and expect it to be a lot of this sort of thing for a long time. I'm thinking about writing a great big fairy thing for kids...but not sure yet. It's an eventual thing anyway, in the barest planning stages, as I'm currently focusing my real writing energy on the short story collection and surgery book.
And I don't feel I'm done, but I absolutely have to stop because I've been at this for too long and my husband is waiting for me to come watch a movie with him.
I like having an extension for getting her homemade birthday gifts done. I'm psyched about how they're turning out.
Jacob's was great today. On the way there Jake was like, "We're going to my aquatic center, right?" and when we tried to explain, "MOM SAID IT'S MY AQUATIC CENTER!!" I am a little tired of every day we plan to go swimming ending up being the worst day of my period, and today I even had a little kid trying to peak under the stall wall as I changed out tampons, which was...awkward. Overall, though, A+
Aaron off the high dive.
Ananda :D
I went off the high board just once and think I somehow managed to bruise my butt/hip o_O Still fun.
Aaron holding Elise. Sometimes the age range of my children, and how big they're all getting, really astounds me.
Jumping to Annie. No, this tiny child cannot swim. She just trusts her older brother and sister as though she has four parents.
Six, four, and practically the same size.
Thirteen months apart, and this is the biggest size difference since his first year of life. It's strange to behold. I went to buy her character shoes she needs for a latin jazz dance in the recital (at Payless, because we are beyond broke and everytime I find out about another dance expense I'm aghast) and was FREAKED. OUT. to find that she needed a women's size 6.5w O_O
Also, wtf, my daughter now dances and does cartwheels in heels? I can barely walk in heels. She's showing me something new I had no idea she could do, dance-wise, on about a daily basis. Splits in both directions, going down into a backbend from standing and front walkovers are like nothing at this point, but she also does a lot of things like this with great ease...she has come SO FAR in dance this year, it is really amazing.
She wanted Olive Garden for her birthday dinner (of course). So we offered Bob and Robby a Wendy's dollar menu dinner and $5 apiece to come double team our younger four kids while we took her out alone. She and I sat in the front of the car with Grant in the back.
Afterwards, in the grocery store.
Both babysitters refused and handed back the money when we returned. I was impressed that they had managed feats such as turning on requested movies, opening a can of pineapple for them all to share and noting that Elise is talking a lot more.
Yesterday was a great day. I cleaned up the deck, Bob cleaned up the yard, Grant and Ananda customized details of wall-mounted shelves he's making her for her birthday (to be hung high up by her loft bed). Aaron found three different types of caterpillars at various stages and we decided he needs to be able to identify types better before he gets stung by something poisonous. He and I raced to the library 20 minutes before closing and it was so great! The childrens' librarian tried valiantly to help him find something in her section, and when there was nothing much helped him google for one type of caterpillar he described, printed some info out, and they found a great general site together that she wrote down for him. The adult reference desk guy actually got us a guide to FLORIDA's caterpillars that is perfect; he loves it. The childrens' librarian met us by the door as we were leaving:
Her: Isn't that going to be awfully hard reading for him?
Aaron: I can identify types by looking at the pictures, and then skim for what I need to know.
Her: HOW OLD IS HE?!
Me: Eight. Nine next month.
Her: What school does he go to??
Me: He's homeschooled.
Her: MMM-Hmm. That explains it. "Identify types, skim".
:p He is like the ideal kid to unschool. He's had his face buried in that book most of the time he's not actively building habitats or tediously combing our hedges and trees and vines for new specimes - there are two set up in his room now, and three different established cocoons in the yard that he's monitoring. They actually found one giant caterpillar, him and Ananda together, that is like, fatter than a tootsie roll and as long as my middle finger. It is solid green and looks like it should be smoking an elaborate pipe a la Alice in Wonderland.
Isaac was making me so proud, too, yesterday - he opened up Starfall.com and was going through the online version of "Peg the Hen". By clicking individual words, it will tell you the letters and then sound them out and say the word. So he was reading the whole book this way, but also copying down all of it "to read to Jake and Elise". So he had this whole sheet of printer paper covered in his really good all-caps writing, like...
PEG THE HEN GETS IN A RED JET.
THE JET GOES FAST.
THE JET GETS WET.
etc.
My friend Michele and her son Adam came and picked him up for a short playdate, that got extended to be a long playdate, and turned into an impromptu (FIRST) sleepover; but he got homesick in the middle of the night and I ended up picking him up. Talking to him the whole way home about what he had eaten and the games they had played and just all of it...I am SO AMAZED by how big and mature he is! How easy and sweet! How all around awesome! I am appreciating his development all the more because of how I've had to slag through so much hoohaw to get to this point with him.
I took Elise (on the seat on the back of mine) and Ananda and Aaron on a great bike ride yesterday, too. And made a delicious lunch that we then walked leftovers of over to Opa's house (four blocks away). Shrimp and pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms and onions and garlic and butter and lemon and chicken broth and mmmm.
Jake is so enthusiastic about schoolwork, he'll run to the table anytime I mention it and burn through subject after subject. His favorite things are his Kumon book of cutting and the Handwriting Without Tears workbook that was meant to have been Ananda's but has been passed down unused.
Last kid thing: of all the serendipidous wow, a PATH friend posted an email to the group that she is looking for a summer pet sitter. They go to Spain for two months every year to be with family and need a kid to volunteer to play with these two guinea pigs daily, and clean their cage out every two weeks, and feed them regularly while they're gone. This woman is willing to do the dropping off and picking up with all supplies, and food for fresh veggies for them, and pay the child doing it $100. We were the first to reply so Aaron has another $100 towards NY, and temporary pets.
I had a major hernia pain scare previously in the week. It woke me up and I spent a couple of hours pacing the house, praying, palpating and trying not to panic as I decided whether or not to wake Grant and go to the hospital. Finally, it passed. *sigh* I was extremely tense in the shoulders for two days following this and I've instituted some changes to try to keep it from happening again - like going for a walk everyday, not eating much at night, blah blah blah. *sigh again*
I'm really interested in terrariums and planning on making several from old Izze bottles and spaghetti jars and unused wine glasses we have. I'm going to take the children and comb our neighborhood for shade-dwelling miniature plants; they're just what Grant needs at his office ♥
I'm reading Craig Ferguson's "American On Purpose". I LOVE CRAIG FERGUSON, and this book is only intensifying that. I was glad to find that in addition to being comedic, it's also starkly honest and genuinely interesting. Plus this guy has lived a lot of wild life. I was rushing through the library grabbing things and wasn't sure what to expect.
I'm really like...REALLY? Because my Usborne stats page is claiming I've had over 400 unique visitors who have viewed almost 1300 pages...but nobody has bought a single thing. I think I am just going to give up selling these online and focus my Usborne energy on RL sales, which seem to go very well.
Continuing to feel very sad about the oil spill...driving back from Key Largo today as well as watching the trailer for that Oceans movie with Ananda both had me tearing up imagining various REAL POSSIBILITIES :/ So horrible, I almost can't think of it.
My childrens' book got rejected by the first agency I queried so on to more submissions. I'm ok with this and expect it to be a lot of this sort of thing for a long time. I'm thinking about writing a great big fairy thing for kids...but not sure yet. It's an eventual thing anyway, in the barest planning stages, as I'm currently focusing my real writing energy on the short story collection and surgery book.
And I don't feel I'm done, but I absolutely have to stop because I've been at this for too long and my husband is waiting for me to come watch a movie with him.